sill

¹

[ sil ]

noun

1. a horizontal timber, block, or the like serving as a foundation of a wall, house, etc.
2. the horizontal piece or member beneath a window, door, or other opening.
3. Geology. a tabular body of intrusive igneous rock, ordinarily between beds of sedimentary rocks or layers of volcanic ejecta.

Sill

²

[ sil ]

noun

1. Mount, a mountain in E central California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 14,153 feet (4,314 meters).

sill

/ sɪl /

noun

1. a shelf at the bottom of a window inside a room
2. a horizontal piece along the outside lower member of a window, that throws water clear of the wall below
3. the lower horizontal member of a window or door frame
4. a continuous horizontal member placed on top of a foundation wall in order to carry a timber framework
5. a flat usually horizontal mass of igneous rock, situated between two layers of older sedimentary rock, that was formed by an intrusion of magma

sill

/ sĭl /

1. A sheet of igneous rock intruded between layers of older rock.
2. See illustration at batholith

Other Words From

• sill-like adjective
• under·sill noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sill¹

before 900; Middle English sille, Old English syl, sylle; cognate with Low German süll, Old Norse syll; akin to German Schwelle sill

Word History and Origins

Origin of sill¹

Old English syll; related to Old Norse svill sill, Icelandic svoli tree trunk, Old High German swella sill, Latin solum ground

Example Sentences

I walked slowly back into my study, which faces Washington Square, and leaned on the window sill.

From The Daily Beast

Tessie leaned back on the open window-sill and began very seriously.

From The Daily Beast

We stood in the open doors with one foot resting on the sill and an elbow cocked on the roof, looking cool.

From The Daily Beast

Another journalist begged him to do a sill walk live on stage then and there, but he demurred.

From The Daily Beast

In February 1909, at age 79, he toppled drunk from his saddle at Fort Sill, Okla.

From The Daily Beast

Robert went over and seated himself on the broad sill of one of the dormer windows.

From Project Gutenberg

They stood outside the window and the cook passed them their coffee and a roll, which they drank and ate from the window-sill.

From Project Gutenberg

Her soft murmuring voice has stolen into his brain; he hears it in the drip, drip of the rain on the sill outside.

From Project Gutenberg

One long and wearisome evening, as we sat on the drawing-room window-sill kicking our heels, Peter came in and found us.

From Project Gutenberg

She smoothed out each finger and thumb before she spoke, and laid them on the window-sill.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• girder
• joist
• piling
• pillar
• plank
• pole
• shaft
• timber